Whanganui District Council installs temporary shell rock car parks outside Sarjeant Gallery

When the gallery (left) reopened in November 2024, there were 10 parking spaces available for it and the Davis Library. Photo / Mike Tweed

Shell rock car parks have been installed outside Whanganui’s Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery, but a long-term solution to the area’s parking woes remains under wraps.

The gallery, next to the Davis Library at Pukenamu Queen’s Park, reopened to the public in November 2024 after years of redevelopment work.

Before the redevelopment, the Davis had a 19-space carpark but that was replaced by one with 10 spaces for both facilities when the Sarjeant reopened.

Shell rock has now been laid to accommodate another 11 vehicles.

Whanganui District Council chief infrastructure officer Lance Kennedy said the work cost $14,000.

Last August, the Chronicle reported the council had agreed to “a temporary parking extension”, including increased capacity along nearby Cameron Tce, at a cost of about $35,000.

Kennedy said the plan, made at a high level, was scrapped after it was realised $35,000 would be insufficient.

But a parking assessment had been completed and shared with elected members, he said.

“No formal decisions have been made yet, beyond the temporary work already completed.”

Whanganui district councillor Rob Vinsen. Photo / NZME

Councillor Rob Vinsen said the new parking was “obviously inadequate” but would help in the short term.

Vinsen has been a vocal critic of the situation since a 2024 council-commissioned report said existing parking in Pukenamu Queen’s Park’s upper and lower areas would satisfy “calculated daily peak demand”.

“Really, the additional parks there are no more than the library needs, rather than the gallery,” Vinsen said last week.

“More spaces need to be found.”

He said he had produced a plan for up to 66 parks on the grassed area behind the Davis, facing Bell St.

An extension of the library had long been planned in that space but he thought there was still room for the parks, he said.

“There is actually an exit on the Cameron Tce side [of the library] so you could have a one-way system.

“My plan is before the council and work is being done.”

Visitor numbers to the Sarjeant reached about 131,000 in its first year, more than double the estimate in a 2019 economic impact assessment.

Last June, then-libraries manager Pete Gray said parking was “the principal cause” for a drop in Davis visitor numbers, with vehicles parking on the grass during peak hours.

“If that was tarmac instead of grass, it wouldn’t currently be turning into mud,” he said.

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.